The best books and films of 2022, some description thereof, as well as a few of the worst.
Continue reading...reading
Various writings that touch on reading as a meaningful, life-affirming, intellectually-edifying activity.
Jane Eyre: Post-Colonial Christian Zealotry?
Reading "Jane Eyre" for the second time revealed a quite different— quite Christian and not postcolonial—one from what inhabited my memory (and imagination).
Continue reading...Pleasures in Reading: Edgar Lee Master’s “Spoon River Anthology”
From the "Spoon River Anthology" by Edgar Lee Masters, excerpts and commentary on the experience of its reading
Continue reading...Powerful May Reading, Viewing: 2022 edition
May reading and viewing of Ashley Vaught in 2022. Best of: "One Crazy Summer" by Rita Williams-Garcia, "Dubliners", and "Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy" by Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Continue reading...Reading Ulysses’ “Oxen of the Sun” (to oneself, aloud, and just in general)
On the experience, specifically pain, of reading as instanced with reference to the modernist masterpiece "Ulysses" by Irish writer James Joyce.
Continue reading...Narcoleptically Read & Watched: April 2022
How do you read and watch narcoleptically? Binging series and reading sparingly, here and there.
Continue reading...Fred Hyatt: Not Enough Technology Pessimism!
A spirited response enjoining MORE pessimism to Fred Hyatt’s Washington Post editorial on technology and democracy
Continue reading...Coming to Booker T. Washington’s “Up From Slavery”
The circumstances of my purchase and knowledge of “Up From Slavery,” Booker T. Washington’s most famous autobiography
Continue reading...Bad Poetry Morning
Repeatedly not finishing a sentence. Either subject or predicate but not both. Becomes some poetry itself.
Continue reading...Read Viewed Consumed 2020-12
Perhaps I began the month of December inauspiciously, insofar as I read/viewed/consumed nothing on the first day of the month (see below). In fact, I did read two different Harry...
Continue reading...Anna Seghers’ “Transit”: Profound Unknowing
In Anna Seghers’ novel “Transit,” no one really knows who the other is. The reader is never certain of who the narrator really is.
Continue reading...Read Viewed Consumed 2020-11
During the month of November what I read and viewed—what I consumed—was less varied and somewhat sparse. In fact, lost some weight.
Continue reading...Sexy Idea #2: Presentism—The Most Dangerous Prejudice
Calling presentism a prejudice is a little like calling 45 a bad president: It’s not strong enough.
Continue reading...Julio Cortázar’s “Bestiary”: Man-eating animals
The “Bestiary” narrates pre-adolescent Isabel’s summer vacation with her cousin Nino and … a tiger.
Continue reading...“Blind Geronimo and His Brother”: Mistrust Finds its End
Brothers Geronimo and Carlo travel the roads of 19th century Italy, entertaining passers-by with song, but one plants a seed of mistrust exposing years of alienation.
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